An unlikely hero - a new life for an Australian film

The film tells the story of an Aussie bloke who builds houses in Queensland; he has a difficult relationship with his dad, his business is in crisis and there's a good looking new executive in town who's proving distracting.

But the real hero of the movie Subdivision is a family-run cinema chain in Perth which has given the film a second life at the box office.

Subdivision initially looked set to follow the path of many other Australian flops.

It opened at multiplex cinemas in Queensland and New South Wales last year and closed days later after no one showed up.

Producers had hoped the 'tradie' theme would resonate with young men, the most regular visitors at multiplex cinemas, but quickly realised their mistake.

Producer Trish Lake says there are a lot of young guys in the film.

"But the values of the film are probably skewed much to an older, almost baby boomer and even older market."

She says once they realised Subdivision was going to bomb, they pulled the film from remaining cinemas.

"It wasn't working as a campaign and it would have been a waste of money to try and keep pushing it at that point."

Reframe

For a lot of Australian films that could have been the end but the producers perservered.

"What we needed was to reframe the film, reframe the story about the film," Ms Lake says.

They decided the first thing the movie needed was some international buzz.

Subdivision was taken to overseas film festivals, including Cannes, where it received some positive feedback from French audiences.

Back in Australia, Ms Lake says people started to take more notice.

"When they saw the film being received in London and France and Dungog and other film festivals around the world, and saw that it was being received well, I think they took a different look at the film."

Producers also realised that the film needed a new look and released a brand new trailer, playing down the comedy elements of the film and playing up the romance.

"Initially, research suggested even though our film had a lot of emotion and had a lot of depth in terms of story that it was the funny moments that people tend to go to the multiplexes for," Ms Lake says.

"That was the initial minimising of the risk factor, to take the comedy approach. But of course when we questioned audiences who really liked the film and were supporting the film, what they really liked about the film was the deep emotions."

Grand rescue

Despite the new buzz and the new look, no cinema was ready to take on the risk associated with Subdivision.

But Allan Stiles from the family-run Grand Cinemas in WA had seen a preview and wanted to give the film a chance.

"Subdivision is a great little comedy," he says.

"It's in the theme of Packed to the Rafters. It's about family like The Castle - I'm not saying it's as good as The Castle but I'm just saying that it's that environment, that heart about it that we like. We just think it's quirky and it's nice."

Grand and its partner Ace Cinemas agreed to show the film exclusively at their 10 cinemas around WA.

David Pye from Ace Cinemas says chains like his want to support Australian films.

"Subdivision deserves to be seen and I think that unless we take some chances from time to time they just don't get seen and the Australian movie industry really needs all the help it can get."

Second life

Trish Lake says the faith shown by Grand and Ace Cinemas has given Subdivision a new life.

Since the WA chain came on board, other cinemas around the country have shown new interest in the film, with screenings planned in South Australia and Victoria.

The film's also been selected for the upcoming Australian Film Industry Awards.

"Once two major exhibitors in Australia took the film on again, then it started breaking down barriers with exhibitors around Australia," she says.

"It was brave of them, because it's really hard to take on a film that didn't do well but because of that, other people have taken the film on."

Trish Lake says she'll take a lot of lessons from the Subdivision experience.

While the film bombed at the big cinemas, she believes it will resonate with smaller suburban crowds; the audience she believes it should have been marketed to in the first place.

She hopes to promote her future films with special screenings at smaller venues.

"Just opening a movie in the cinema along with all the other competition and hoping that it's going to do what it does by magic, I don't think that's very easy at all any more for Australian films.

"I think we need that very hands-on approach so while it's more work for the producer, I think in the long run it'll be worthwhile."